A large Chinese gold-splashed bronze tripod censer, ding, Ka...

Hammer

£14,000

A large Chinese gold-splashed bronze tripod censer, ding, Kangxi period, the gold-splashed decoration and olive-brown patina well preserved, the rim surmounted by a pair of high looped handles, above a shape body on three stump feet, the base with apocryphal four character Xuande mark in elongated seal script, 19cm diameter, 14.8cm high.

cf. a gold-splashed bronze tripod censer sold by Sotheby’s, London, Chinese Art sale, 15 June 2020, lot 42, dated to the Kangxi period with the same style of elongated seal script mark.

More Information

Provenance - UK private collection, 1920s or earlier, thence by family descent.
This collection of late Ming and Qing dynasty porcelain and bronze vessels has been owned by a single Cotswold family for a number of generations dating back to the 1920s or earlier.
The collection was formerly on display at the family home in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, UK before the house was sold in the 1980s. Some interior photos taken c.1982 show a number of the pieces on display in the family house and an inventory undertaken in 1948 by the local Campden auctioneer and valuer Alfred Bower lists many of the items. Extracts of the 1948 inventory are included where they correspond to the relevant lots in the sale.

See the attached photo taken around 1982, showing the bronze censer on display in an alcove in the Dining Room of the Chipping Campden residence.

With olive-brown patina and some grubbiness to the gold splashed decoration, wear to the base of the feet consistent with age and use, in good condition with no damage detected.